Half of overweight people are actually healthy, admit scientists

Most of us are too fat and it's jeopardising the health of future generations, or at least that's what the headlines tell us. But new research has found that almost half of overweight people are actually healthy.

The scientists argue that weight is a deeply flawed tool for a judging a person's wellbeing.

Body mass index, or BMI, has effectively become a proxy for whether someone can be considered healthy or not. In the US, companies use their employee's BMIs as a factor in determining workers' healthcare costs. If a rule proposed in April is adopted, people with higher BMIs could soon have to pay more for their health insurance in the US.

And back in the UK, this week we learnt that the health watchdog Nice wants family doctors to be offered financial incentives to ensure they get overweight patients (or those with a BMI over 25) on a diet. But new research suggests these proposals aren't such great ideas.

Scientists in America analysed the link between BMI and several health markers, including blood pressure and glucose and cholesterol levels using data taken from more than 40,000 adults. They found 47% of those categorised as overweight were actually healthy, while 29% of the people who were classed as moderately obese, and 16% of the extremely obese were also healthy.

Janet Tomiyama, assistant professor of psychology at the University of California Los Angeles, who led the research says:

"Many people see obesity as a death sentence. But the data show there are tens of millions of people who are overweight and obese and are perfectly healthy."

She reckons eating a healthy diet and exercising regularly, rather than fixating on weight, might well be much better for our wellbeing. Maybe it's time to ditch the scales.

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